


Wishes

by sworddance



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mutual Pining, Pining, Terminal Illness (mentioned), honest to god i only care about enemies to lovers, idk i'm not capable of writing anything that isn't angst, kaito is depressed and i think we need to talk about it, shuichi and maki are only briefly mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26831110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sworddance/pseuds/sworddance
Summary: Kaito and Kokichi wish on a shooting star.
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 84





	Wishes

Kaito Momota couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t unusual for him to be restless, as a matter of fact, it would be more accurate to say that it was normal. He could only sleep when he was completely exhausted, and even then, he would only rest for about five hours on good days. On bad days, he would stare out of his window watching the sun creep its way into the sky, wondering why he couldn’t be one of those people who could roll over and doze off like it was nothing. Tonight, however, was different; he just couldn’t seem to settle down and stay in one spot, and each time he tried, he ended up pacing around his room attempting to find a new place where he could get comfortable. His mind was whirring, and all the negative thoughts which he could normally make peace with were weighing him down. It was like he was trapped inside of a tiny elevator that had gotten stuck halfway to his destination, and the claustrophobia was settling in despite the fact that he was standing in a wide, open room.

_Out, out, out._ All Kaito could think about was getting out of his room. He didn’t even have a particular destination in mind, all he knew was that he had to get _out_ before his own thoughts drove him mad. Before he even realized it, his fingers were wrapped around the doorknob, desperately pulling at it so that he could escape. Perhaps if he were standing in the middle of the student dormitory he would be comforted by the fact that there were other people in the building with him; and perhaps the feeling of hopeless despair mixed with loneliness would go away and he would finally be able to get a little sleep.

The door closed behind him, and he could hear the sound of the lock clicking in place as he made his way down the stairs. He surveyed the area as he reached the last couple of steps, coming to the conclusion that there was nobody around that he could actually see. It _was_ the middle of the night, it was only logical to assume that everyone was asleep in their room; however, that thought didn’t comfort Kaito as much as he originally thought that it would. Dread was creeping into his mind again, and he decided that he needed to leave the dormitory entirely, even though everyone had promised that they would stay inside during the night. Breaking that promise didn’t really bother him all that much, it’s not like he ever fully agreed with the decision anyway, but he was a little concerned with getting caught in the act. If someone did see him, how could he explain it away without looking suspicious? In the worst-case scenario where another one of them ended up dead, he would be the first person that they would point their finger at.

Kaito had to stop himself, it was negative thoughts like those that had him out here in the first place. _There’s no reason to worry about that._ He told himself. _Nobody’s going to commit another murder._ However, no matter how many times he repeated it, there was no way for him to shake the feeling that someone _would._ He hated it, the seed of distrust that had been planted in his heart; he liked believing in people, he liked believing that in the end people would always do the _right_ thing. People often described him as an optimist because of this, but his shining optimism covered up a much darker side of himself, it was the side of himself he hated the most, the worrying, constantly fretting side of himself. His stomach churned as he thought about the possibility that someone else would kill another person for the slim chance to escape the academy—and that was enough to make him say ‘fuck it’ to the promise he had made.

Kaito pushed on the heavy glass door and took a single step into the pitch-black darkness. He made sure to handle the door gently so that it didn’t make too much noise as it closed behind him, and once he was sure he hadn’t woken anyone up, he meandered toward the large patch of grass that was a few feet away. There was a wooden table and two matching benches beneath a gazebo that was made from the same material, but he chose to lay down in the cold grass instead. From this position, he could see the sky better. Sure, there was a cage around the academy obscuring bits and pieces of the sky, but it was better than his only alternative—staring at a blank white ceiling.

There were tiny white stars embedded in the pure, dark sky; they were surrounding the crescent-shaped moon, helping to accentuate its beauty. For as long as Kaito could remember he had been infatuated with the sky and what lied beyond its vast, endless space. If he was able to go to space just one time…that would be enough for him, it was his one and only dream after all. Of course, life wasn’t making that dream easy to attain; as a matter of fact, it was like life was actively working _against_ him by constantly throwing obstacles in his path. The first and biggest obstacle was his time limit. Kaito didn’t have much time left; his chronic illness was slowly eating away at his life and it was only a matter of time before it was cut short. The second obstacle had been thrown in front of him rather recently, he’d been kidnapped and forced to play Monokuma’s sick game, which was a waste of the short amount of time he had left. Nobody knew how long they would be trapped here; it could be a few days, a few weeks, a few months, maybe even a few years. Perhaps they would never get to leave, and Kaito would never be able to explore space like he had yearned to for his entire life.

However, he couldn’t dwell on thoughts like that, not when Shuichi and Maki were relying on him. Kaito thought it was selfish to be worried about himself when the two of them needed him to be a beacon of hope. He wanted to be someone they could look up to, not someone that they needed to coddle or look after. It was why he hadn’t mentioned his illness to them, they didn’t need to be burdened with his problems on top of the ones they already had. Sure, he was lying to them when he said that he was fine, but it was better than letting them find out the ugly truth, right? Perhaps Kokichi was right when he said that that not _all_ lies were bad ones. If it was for the sake of kindness, or if the truth was too painful, then lying was the only option a person had. Were Kokichi’s lies for those reasons? Were they more similar than Kaito had originally thought? Was he too, hiding something that was just too painful to say? Honestly, he would have liked to ask him, but it was hard to talk to Kokichi without feeling the urge to cause physical harm to him. How can you have an honest conversation with someone who openly admits that most of the things they say are lies?

Knowing that Kokichi would probably lie to him didn’t change Kaito’s desire to pry into his mind, however. He knew that it was a pointless venture, and that the thoughts that were currently running through his mind were complete nonsense—but that was a good thing. When his thoughts started to become muddled and incomprehensible it was a sign that he was drifting off to sleep. Falling asleep in the grass outside when he had promised everyone that he wouldn’t leave his room was probably a terrible idea, but as long as he returned before everyone else woke up, they’d never find out that he’d left his room in the first place. The same blackness that draped over the night sky began to cover him like a blanket, but it wasn’t warm and comforting like one. It was a much more cold and frigid feeling, yet somehow it was inviting, sort of like the moment just before someone dies. His eyelids started to become heavier and heavier, and the thoughts that had been screaming inside of his head started to dissipate into a white fog. It was going to be a brief respite from all his worries, but he was grateful to have it.

“Kaito?” A familiar voice broke through the darkness.

Kaito’s eyes snapped open the moment he heard his own name. His heart was pounding against with ribcage, and the only emotion that he was feeling was extremely prevalent on his face—fear. There were many reasons for him to be afraid of this mystery person, but the number one reason was that there was a high probability that it was one of the student council members. If they caught him out outside of his dorm room, they’d make sure that everyone heard about it. He could hear the sound of their shoes crunching the grass beneath them, they were walking toward him, each footstep carrying them closer and closer to where he was laying. A deer in headlights—that was what he felt like as he continued to lay there completely immobile; he wanted to respond to them of course, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t get the words out. The other person’s feet were now planted firmly next to his head and he watched as they slowly bent down to meet his eyes. It didn’t take longer than a second for him to determine who it was now that they were close enough for him to see—it was the very man he was thinking about just before he’d drifted off to sleep—Kokichi Oma.

“Huh, so you’re not dead,” there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. “You were so quiet I thought that I was stumbling across your corpse.”

Kaito rolled his eyes in response; the fear that had immobilized him disappeared the moment he knew that the voice in the dark belonged to Kokichi. “I was asleep.” He sat up and stretched as he spoke. He’d rather die than admit that he’d spooked him, but it wasn’t like he was lying; he _had_ been asleep up until the moment he heard someone call his name.

“You came all the way out here just to…sleep?”

“Yeah.” He nodded in agreeance.

Kokichi narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as a smirk danced its way across his face. “Oh Kaito,” he started in that annoying tone of his, “what about the promise we all made? Each of us agreed that we wouldn’t go out after nighttime…and yet, here you are claiming that you were napping in the grass. I wonder what Shuichi and Maki would think about this…”

While Kaito was extremely annoyed by the sarcastic words coming out of Kokichi’s mouth, he wasn’t really afraid of him telling everyone that he’d stumbled across him. He would have to admit that he was guilty of violating the exact same rule; why would he do that when so many students were already suspicious of him? “And what about you? You’re breaking the promise too.”

“Me?” Kokichi tilted his head in the opposite direction. “That’s easy—I don’t care if they know that I broke that stupid promise. You clearly do though, Kaito, so it makes me wonder what you’re doing out here. It had to be pretty serious if it’s making you _lie_ to your precious friends.”

As badly as Kaito wanted Kokichi to stop talking, he couldn’t help but agree that the student council’s rule was stupid. He probably should have been more upset about Kokichi being willing to fall under suspicion just to tell on him, but he found himself wondering the about the same thing that had crossed his mind just before he fell asleep; were the two of them more alike than he thought? Now wasn’t exactly the time for pleasant thoughts like that though, not while Kokichi was deliberately provoking him. “It’s not anything serious,” the half-truth slid out of his mouth almost naturally, “I couldn’t sleep and figured that some fresh air might help. That’s all. Pretty boring, right?”

“Boring?” Kokichi nearly scoffed. “As if.” He sat down close to Kaito as he continued to speak, crossing his right leg over his left and placing his palms flat on the ground beneath him for support. “If you were willing to break the rules just for a little fresh air, that means you think they’re stupid too, don’t you?”

Kaito wasn’t surprised that Kokichi caught onto that, he had a lot of choice words he could use to describe the shorter man but _stupid_ wasn’t one of them. As a matter of fact, out of the remaining twelve students he was one of the smartest, though Kaito would never admit that truth aloud.

“I don’t think they’re stupid—”

“Yes, you do,” Kokichi interrupted, “don’t bother trying to lie to me, it’s pointless. I’m a li—”

“Liar, I know.” Kaito cut him off in return, frustration prevalent in his voice.

“Right,” he laughed, clearly amused by what Kaito had said, “so you might as well tell me the truth.”

Kaito knew that Kokichi was just trying to get a rise out of him, he’d done it on several occasions already, but knowing that didn’t change the fact that he seriously starting to get on his nerves. The accusation wasn’t the thing that was pissing him off, Kokichi wasn’t wrong about how he felt about the student council. What was pissing him off was that smug “I’m better than everyone” attitude he always had when he spoke. No matter what he was saying it was always like he was talking down to whoever was unfortunate enough to be the current victim of his verbal lashings. Kaito didn’t want to fight with him and draw unwanted attention to the both of them, but he had never been the type to just sit there and take shit off someone.

“Oh, shut up!” He started, speaking a bit louder than he had intended. “You haven’t told the truth _once_ since we’ve been here. Why should I be honest with you?”

“That’s not true,” Kokichi retorted, “I’ve been plenty honest with you guys.”

“Oh, for the love of—You _admitted_ that you were a liar, you say it all the time. Nobody can tell when you’re bein’ honest or not.” Kaito groaned as he spoke. Part of him was beginning to wonder if the short amount of sleep he got was worth this.

“What if I’m lying about being a liar? Wouldn’t that make me an honest man?” Kokichi responded quickly, almost like he had practiced those words before.

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Kaito gritted his teeth to keep himself from yelling any louder than he already was. Normally, he had a good grip on his emotions and was able to stay calm in even the most dire of situations, but Kokichi always found a way to get under his skin. He’d known many people of the course of his life, and he was always able to understand them even if they had differences; a lot of people even praised Kaito for being a good judge of character and sought advice from him _because_ he understood other people so well. However, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t pin down the exact type of person Kokichi Oma was. He was a wildcard; every time Kaito thought that he was finally starting to understand him, he’d do something to disprove any theory he had managed to come up with.

Kaito took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and continued, “I could understand if you lied and said that you _weren’t_ a liar in order to gain our trust, but why would you lie and that you were if you weren’t? It’s not like you would gain anything from it. Actually, you’re losing the trust of everyone around you every time you say it.”

Kokichi slowly brought his left hand up to play with the ends of his long, dark purple hair, and for just a second, Kaito could have sworn he saw him hesitate before he responded. “…Why not? Wouldn’t that make things a little more interesting?”

Once again, Kaito just couldn’t understand Kokichi’s thought process. Sixteen students had been kidnapped from their homes, and when they woke up, they found that they were trapped inside of a school that was so rundown it looked like it had been abandoned for years. Not only that, but there was a giant cage around them as well, making escape damn near impossible. When they realized this, they were told that they’d been taken for one sole purpose, to betray and kill each other until only two students remained; only those two students would be allowed to “graduate” and leave the academy. Now only twelve students remained…ten too many to graduate. How could Kokichi look at this situation and wonder how he could make it more interesting? Kaito wanted to get angry, he wanted to yell and scream and ask him what the fuck was wrong with him, however, that single moment of hesitation right before Kokichi answered him stopped him from becoming enraged. He found himself wanting to understand that moment; Kokichi was always so arrogant and sure of himself that seeing him question anything he said was jarring. They’d been trapped here for a few days now and he hadn’t seen that happen once; so, what was it that made him pause?

Continuing this conversation was going to get him nowhere, though. If they kept going, it was only a matter of time before the two of them were having another full-scale argument where other people would have to intervene and pull them apart. Kaito needed to change the subject, and quickly, before Kokichi could continue on about how making a terrible situation even worse would be…interesting to him. He didn’t really care what the topic changed to as long as it didn’t cause any animosity between them, so he asked the first question that came to mind.

“Hey,” he turned to face Kokichi for the first time since he sat down next to him, “what are you doing out here anyway?” It was something he’d been wondering about for a while; when he left his room, he didn’t see anyone, and he assumed that everyone was asleep in their room because of that. But there was no way for him to know exactly how long Kokichi had been out here, as a matter of fact, he didn’t know if he had even gone back to his room after Monokuma’s nighttime announcement.

“Kaito?” Kokichi’s voice instantly changed from monotonous to mischievous. “Don’t tell me that you’re worried about me. I’m flattered.”

“W-What? No—” Kaito couldn’t help but stumble over his words when he heard Kokichi’s response. He was fully prepared to receive a bullshit answer like this to his question, but somehow, he still managed to catch him off guard. It wasn’t like Kokichi was right; Kaito didn’t ask that question because he was worried about him. So…why was he so flustered? He cleared his throat in an attempt to shake off the embarrassing feeling and continued, “I wanted to make sure that you weren’t plotting anything.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it wasn’t a lie either, there was a good chance that Kokichi really was planning something.

“Hm.” Kokichi paused for a moment. “If I was…would you try and stop me?”

“Of course I would!” It didn’t take longer than a second for Kaito to answer; there was no way that he would let anyone get hurt by one of Kokichi’s schemes if he could stop it before it came to fruition.

Kokichi clicked his tongue in response. “Aw, man. Now I wish that I had come up with something. Mind if I take a raincheck on that offer? I’m sure that I can come up with something in two to three business days.”

“I wasn’t offering anything.” Kaito was confused by what Kokichi said. If he wasn’t plotting anything, why was he suddenly inspired to just because Kaito said that he would try and stop him? “How about you don’t plan anything so that I don’t have to chase you around instead?”

“But don’t you think it’d be fun?” Kokichi started to laugh again as he looked up at the inky night sky.

This was the second time that Kokichi had laughed since he sat down in the grass next to Kaito, but this laugh was much different from the first. There was something almost…genuine about it. He was a self-proclaimed liar, there was no reason to believe that any emotion he showed was authentic, yet Kaito couldn’t help but notice the pure, childish delight in it. Something about it made him believe that Kokichi really thought being chased around like some kind of supervillain would be fun. And…if they were in a different situation, Kaito would agree with him. He would never admit it to anyone, not even Shuichi or Maki, but he had always wanted a legitimate rivalry with someone. To him, the ideal rival would be someone who would constantly compete with him, even over little things, while they both used their competitions to grow closer. They would also tell him the things he _needed_ to hear, not what he _wanted_ to hear, no matter how harsh it was; as a matter of fact, he would prefer if they said it as harshly as possible. His rival would be someone that he would slowly fall madly in love with, and when he finally confessed, they would tell him that they felt the same way. That person would…make him want to stay on earth. In truth, that’s all he really wanted; a reason to stay.

Kokichi’s amethyst eyes were still focused on the stars above them when Kaito glanced back over at him. He allowed his eyes to follow, watching the stars along with him for a moment before letting out a jaded chuckle. “…Well, if you do end up planning something, I’ll definitely stop you.” Almost involuntarily, his lips lifted upwards into a smile as he spoke.

“We’ll see about that.” Kokichi’s response was playful, but it was still laced with confidence. “By the way,” He continued speaking without skipping a beat, “I’m out here because you never came back to the dorm, y’know, since you asked.”

Kaito froze for a moment. Kokichi couldn’t have seen him leaving the dorm; he had taken a good look around after exiting his room and he hadn’t seen a single person. There was no way he would have missed him; sure, it was dark in the dormitory, but it wasn’t very big, he definitely would have noticed the presence of another person. “That’s a lie. There was nobody in the dorm when I left.”

“Just because you didn’t see me doesn’t mean that I wasn’t there.” He turned his attention away from the sky and toward Kaito as he continued to speak. “Besides, you kinda looked like you were going through something, I don’t think you would have noticed me even if I was standing right in front of you.”

“If you saw me, why didn’t you say anything?” Kaito still didn’t quite believe what he was saying. It was true that he had been trapped in his own head, and there was no way that he would have known that unless he saw him; but, he couldn’t believe that _Kokichi_ of all people would come looking for him because he went missing.

“I was minding my own business, Kaito. I know that’s unbelievable to you since you’re always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, but it’s a pretty common practice.”

“C’mon, that’s how I know you’re lying,” Kaito scoffed, “since when did you start minding your own business?”

“At least I know when I need to stay in my own lane, unlike you.” Kokichi sneered, contempt filling his voice.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Kaito could feel himself getting angry despite his best efforts to stay calm. He knew that asking Kokichi to explain himself only going to upset him more, but that didn’t change the fact that he genuinely was curious about what his words meant.

“…You’re always so willing to help other people…even if you have to go out of your way to do it. Someone could tell you no a million times and that wouldn’t change anything, you’d still try and help them. That’s what I mean.”

Once again, Kokichi’s words were confusing. This time though, Kaito wasn’t confused by what he’d said, he was confused by his tone. Why did he sound so…disgusted? “What’s wrong with helping people? If I _can_ help someone then why wouldn’t I?” 

Kokichi groaned and rolled his eyes in response. “Ugh. It’s seriously your most annoying trait, and you have a _lot_ of those.” He lingered on his words for a moment as he clasped his hands and started to rub them together. “Anyway, I answered your question. Whether you decide to believe me or not is up to you, I don’t really give a shit either way.” When he was finished talking, he brought his hands to his face and began to blow on them.

Somehow, up until this moment Kaito had forgotten how cold it was. Watching Kokichi shiver and attempt to warm his hands was a harsh reminder of the chill in the air. Sure, Kaito could handle the low temperature, but what about Kokichi? He was a lot smaller and frailer than him, and his outfit wasn’t the most practical thing to be wearing in the cold. Kaito hated that found himself worrying about him, especially after he had just said something so rude about the way he concerned himself with other people’s problems, but he couldn’t help it; Kokichi looked so cold and miserable, there was no way that he was just going to leave him like that.

Kaito pulled his left arm out of the orchid-colored blazer he wore on top of the rest of his clothes and slid it off with relative ease. With the same speed he used to remove the garment he haphazardly draped it over Kokichi’s shoulders, covering the entirety of his small frame with the lightweight fabric.

As he returned to his original position, Kaito felt like time was slowly coming to a grinding halt. Kokichi, who was usually boisterous and loudmouthed, was now completely silent as he sat motionless beneath the pale moonlight. It was a little awkward to be honest, especially since Kokichi’s eyes were locked on his, but Kaito figured that breaking eye contact would be even more awkward and found himself staring back into eyes that refused to look away. He wanted him to say something, _anything_ , even if it was something derogatory toward him. To him, that would have been better than continuing the strange staring contest the two of them were having.

Every moment that passed made Kaito’s heart pound faster against his ribcage. He wasn’t even sure why it was beating so quickly; all he knew was that he needed to turn his gaze away from Kokichi before his heart found a way to rip its way out of his chest. One of them needed to break the silence, and if Kokichi was refusing to do it, then Kaito would have to do it himself. However, just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, Kokichi turned away from him. He couldn’t see his face anymore, but he could still see his nimble fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket as he clutched it closely to his body. 

Kaito thought that breaking eye contact would be enough to get his heart to calm down, or at the very least, he thought that it would help him stop feeling so embarrassed. That turned out to be wishful thinking, though. As he sat there and tried to focus on anything but the smaller man next to him, he could feel heat actively rising to his cheeks. If there had been a sliver of light other than the faint amount the moon provided, it would be obvious to see that his entire face was red. Why was he so…nervous? It was just his jacket; he would have offered it to anyone who needed it, or…would he? He’d spent time out on this same patch of grass with Shuichi and Maki before and not once did it ever occur to him to cover either of them with his jacket. It wasn’t like it was an exceptionally cold night either; so, what was it that made him give up his jacket?

“You really are an idiot,” Kokichi’s voice interrupted the silence, “it’s like you didn’t hear a single word that came out of my mouth.” Hearing him speak was more than enough to get Kaito to look up from the ground and focus his attention on him again.

Kokichi must have been referring to what he said about how Kaito always went out of his way to help other people. He’d heard everything he said, but he wasn’t going to change his entire way of thinking just because _Kokichi_ thought that it was idiotic. It wasn’t like he was the first person to call Kaito stupid and he probably wouldn’t be the last either; sadly, it was something that he was quite used to being called.

“You could always give it back.” He retorted.

“After you so graciously handed it over? No. It’ll take more than that to get it back from me.” Kokichi snorted as he met Kaito’s eyes once again. “You know, Kaito, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you liked me.” His lips curled into a smirk as he finished speaking.

Kaito’s breath caught in his throat the moment those words left Kokichi’s mouth. He was still flustered from their previous exchange, and Kokichi’s accusation did nothing but amplify that embarrassing feeling. If his face was red before, it had to be at least ten shades deeper now; and the heartbeat that he tried so hard to slow down ended up thrashing around even more rapidly. It was humiliating, but he ended up looking away just so that Kokichi couldn’t see the state he was in; the last thing he needed right now was for him to point it out.

“What? Do you want me to like you or something?” He sounded confident when he spoke, but it was nothing more than false bravado.

“Hm.” Kokichi hesitated for a moment before he continued, “You avoided answering, so, I’ll take that as confirmation that you _do_ like me.”

“Oh, shut up.” Those words came out almost involuntarily for a second time. There was something about the way that Kokichi spoke that was infuriating; Kaito couldn’t help but want to tell him to be quiet all the time. “You didn’t answer my question, should I take that as confirmation that you want me to like you?”

“…Not bad,” Kokichi sounded a little impressed with what Kaito had said, “but you shouldn’t take anything I say or do seriously.” He burst out laughing then, but it was so obnoxious that it came off a bit disingenuous.

Kokichi was hard to read, especially for Kaito, but his insufferable laughter made him believe that his words were how he genuinely felt, and the laughter was just his way of trying to cover up those feelings now that they were out in the open. He could’ve been wrong, and perhaps, secretly, deep down he just wanted to believe that Kokichi wanted to be liked by him, but Kaito still felt like this was the closest that he’d ever come to understanding the smaller man.

The sound of laughter faded into a giggle, then slowly it evaporated into silence. The two of them sat like that for a while, making no noise aside from the sound that the brittle grass made when one of them shifted in their seat. That was until, once again, Kokichi shattered the serenity. He was moving around a lot, and the noise was more than enough to draw Kaito’s interest. Violet eyes watched as Kokichi slid his thin arms into the sleeves of his blazer and flopped down onto the dirt beneath them. Clearly, he wasn’t interested in going back inside; but Kaito didn’t really mind, it wasn’t like he wanted to go back to his room either.

“Kaito?” Kokichi was staring straight at the sky when he said his name. He’d just laid down on his back, but something he was looking at had made him sit up just enough to shift his weight onto his elbows. “What’s that?” He used his left hand to point upwards toward whatever he was looking at.

Kaito’s eyes shifted in the same direction, following Kokichi’s finger as he tried to find what it was that he was staring so intently at. Those same eyes widened when he saw it; he was absolutely awestruck at the sight, but he still managed to answer Kokichi’s question. “A shooting star…?”

“Can’t you try and sound a little more, I don’t know, confident? Aren’t you supposed to be the Ultimate Astronaut?” Kokichi sighed, seemingly disappointed with Kaito’s lackluster answer.

Kaito had only sounded unsure because he was shocked to see it, not because he didn’t know what it was. “Ah, sorry,” He said as he watched the bright point of light slowly drag it’s way across the darkness, “it’s a shooting star. Though, it’d be more accurate to call it a meteor. People only think that they’re stars.”

“So, people have been wishing on…meteors?” Kokichi looked even more disappointed than before. “Now I kinda regret asking you what it was.”

“A wish,” Kaito repeated, “both of us should make one.”

“You still believe in crap like that?” Kokichi tilted his head, genuinely confused by what Kaito had said.

It was true that Kaito knew that the faint light in the sky was nothing more than a meteoroid burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere, but despite that, he still believed in childish things like wishing on stars. Some people even described him as a hopeless romantic because of the way he romanticized the solar system, and they weren’t wrong; Kaito Momota was very passionate about space and found every aspect of it charming. His favorite part though, were the stars and constellations, as well as the romantic stories behind how they each got their names. He could probably talk about them for hours, though he doubted that he would ever find anyone that would listen to him for that long. 

“I do,” He nodded, and then focused his attention back to the sky, “now, shut up and make a wish.”

Kaito didn’t _really_ expect Kokichi to make a wish, of course, he just wanted enough time to be able to make one himself. If Kokichi left him alone for just a few moments, it would give him more than enough time to be able to think of something to wish for before the meteor completely burned out. He thought it over for a moment, quickly coming to the conclusion that the most obvious thing he should be wishing for right now was for everyone to escape the academy together. However, if they all worked together and cooperated, that was the only outcome for the killing school semester; Kaito didn’t feel the need to waste his wish on something that was a given. Besides, there was one thing that he wanted more than anything else, even more than traveling to space and voyaging through the stars.

_I wish that I could experience love just once before I die._

Kaito’s wish was selfish…and rather sad, but it’s what he truly wanted. He knew that he didn’t have very long left, but if he could somehow find love in the short amount of time that he did have…then at least he could die happy.

He didn’t realize that he’d closed his eyes when he was making his wish until he was opening them up again. The shooting star was long gone; all he could do was hope that he was able to get his feelings across before it had burned out. He let out a sigh and glanced back over in Kokichi’s direction, who for some reason was already looking at him.

“Did you make one?” Kaito asked the moment their eyes met again.

“Of course I did, you asked me to so nicely after all. I wished for—”

“If you say it out loud it won’t come true,” Kaito interrupted, “everyone knows that.”

“Oh, don’t be so childish. Do you wanna know what I wished for or not?” Kokichi asked in a rather condescending tone.

Kaito had to admit that he was curious to find out what someone like Kokichi would wish for. Someone who’s talent was being the “Ultimate Supreme Leader”; what could he possibly want out of life that he didn’t already have? He wanted to find out, though, knowing Kokichi, he would probably just make something up off the top of his head and say that’s what he’d wished for. The lie piqued Kaito’s interest as well, however. _What bullshit would Kokichi come up with?_ To Kaito, hearing the lie would almost be as satisfying as finding out the honest answer to the question. 

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’d you wish for Kokichi?” Kaito’s curiosity outweighed his common sense—which was something that was true about him in most cases.

The corners of Kokichi’s mouth raised into a smile as he began to speak, “I wished for Kaito Momota, self-proclaimed Luminary of the Stars, to finally start living for himself and not for everyone else.” He paused for a moment, almost like he was giving Kaito a minute to ingest what he’d said before he continued, “What did _you_ wish for?”

Kaito pulled his eyes away from Kokichi and looked in the opposite direction; he knew that he must have been lying, but his words still managed to thoroughly embarrass him. He was usually good at keeping the pieces of his personality that he didn’t want anyone else to see completely hidden—nobody had ever been able to read him as accurately as Kokichi just did. Kaito indeed spent most of his days putting other people’s needs first in exchange for their admiration and acceptance. He needed that constant validation, and without it, he felt like he was less than nothing. It was a feeling that he hated; he would do anything to never feel it again, even if it meant lying and becoming a more likeable version of himself.

He wanted everyone he came in contact with to like him, even Kokichi, which is why he couldn’t tell him the truth about what it was he had wished for. Showing weakness or being emotionally vulnerable didn’t match the heroic persona he’d donned. Though, if Kokichi was able to come to the accurate conclusion that he was living for other people, he’d probably be able to guess that there was no way Kaito was going to tell him the truth. The shorter man _was_ a veteran when it came to lying after all. This probably should have made him upset, but he actually found peace in the knowledge that he might have finally found someone who understood him. 

Almost as quickly as that thought entered his mind, he forced it out; this was _Kokichi_ he was thinking about—nothing about that evil little man was _peaceful._ Kaito couldn’t believe himself, he really allowed himself to get emotional over words that came out of a _liar’s_ mouth. At least knowing that they were probably lies made it easier for him answer Kokichi’s question with another one.

“I wished,” Kaito’s voice wavered as he decided on which lie he was going to tell, “for everyone to escape this academy together, of course. There’s nothin’ else to wish for.”

“Hm. Typical.” Kokichi’s voice had a tinge of frustration in it, “I shouldn’t have expected you to say anything else.”

“Hey, Kokichi?” Kaito turned suddenly, meeting Kokichi’s amethyst gaze once more. He wanted to ignore the feeling in his chest and deny the fact that Kokichi’s words were bothering him, but he couldn’t. “Were you telling the truth? About what you wished for, I mean.” Kaito knew that it was hypocritical to ask a question about truth considering he had just been dishonest himself, but it wasn’t like he really expected Kokichi to give him a straightforward answer.

“…Who knows?” Kokichi shifted so that he was only a few centimeters away from Kaito, any space they had between the two of them disappeared with that single motion. He leaned against him when he was close enough, gently resting his head on the taller man’s arm. “I’m a li—”

“Liar…I know.” Kaito finished his sentence the same way he had before, except this time a smile etched its way across his lips as he finished speaking.

Kaito Momota didn’t know when he would meet his end; it could be in a few days, a few weeks, a few months, maybe even a few years if his body allowed him to live that long. What he _did_ know was that he felt like he was going to be dragged around by Kokichi Oma’s lies up until the day he took his last breath. And, strangely, that knowledge didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd say they both got their wish considering what happened during chapter 5 of the game.


End file.
